The Surreal & Dark Paintings of Alex Gross

I’ve seen the paintings of Alex Gross before. You probably have, too. One sits on the cover of the Blonde Redhead’s album 23. Another can be seen looking bug-eyed on the front of Haruki Murakami’s After Dark. They’re haunting chunks of pop surrealism and as an introduction to the bizarreness of Gross’ style, they seem to only skim the surface.

Alex Gross is originally from New York, but he now lives and works in LA. For me, his style of work sits well with the Lowbrow art movement of the city. His oil paintings are creepy, and at times, almost garish – and yet I find them to be captivating and intriguing. He’s a talented painter and his work seems to be both informed by and commenting on how our visual culture has become so consumed by globalization and capitalism. Much of what he paints seems to laugh back at our perceived notions of beauty and art and by doing so he creates unsettling images that are dark and twisted. Why not take a look at more of his work online here?

As a side-note for those in New York who wish to see more of Gross’s work, his new solo show entitled Product Placement opens at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery on Feb 25th.